


Time Is Limited

by PippyLI



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls, Gen, Hugs, Making Up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23081197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PippyLI/pseuds/PippyLI
Summary: Stan wakes up to the sound of ticking and it's the end of the world. His brother is there, and he doesn't like what Ford tells him, but there's nothing he can do about it.At least the kids are safe.
Relationships: Ford Pines & Stan Pines
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Time Is Limited

**Author's Note:**

> Some things y'all need to know before reading:
> 
> This takes place during Weirdmaggedon part 3, but with a few differences. After saving Ford and everyone else, they have to immediately retreat to shelter. Bill, upon realizing everyone is gone, goes on destructive rampages. Stan gets knocked out after one of them at some point and we begin when he wakes up.
> 
> (Special thanks to mi amor Lin for proofreading owo <3)

_...Tick _

_...Tick... _

Stan blinks awake to the sound of ticking. Searching his memory, he finds that he cannot recall much of the previous events leading up until whenever he went unconscious. He suspects his aching head has something to do with it.

Sitting up, he looks around the unfamiliar room-- if he could even call it that. A more suitable word would be ruins. Everything is wrecked. Wood pieces are strewn across the floor, a gaping hole revealing the bloody red sky.

Something’s wrong. Very, very wrong. 

_...Tick… _

_...Tick… _

Using the floor for leverage, Stan hauls his body up into a standing position, wincing as his entire lower half throbs in protest. He spots a lone figure ahead of him in the midst of the wreckage, and figures that they may know what the hell was going on. He takes a cautious step forward, then another, and another- A large creak fills the air as Stan tenses and the figure whips around to reveal a face much similar to his own.

“Stanley?” He doesn’t sound happy.

Ford’s entire display is panicked.

“What are you-”

And messy. His clothes are torn badly, not even the best of the best could fix it. Is that blood-?

“-were supposed to go with-”

His eyes are widened in a way that reminded him of an owl. Kind of like how Mabel always sa-

“-this wasn’t a part of-”

Wait.

_ “Stanley!” _

The man in question is brought back to reality with a jump at the shout. Ford groans in frustration at the obvious display of inattentiveness. 

“Listen to me when I’m talking to you, you knucklehead!”

“Where are the kids?” is the first thing to come out of his mouth.

_...Tick… _

_...Tick… _

Ford sighs, his tone becoming softer. “Evacuated along with the rest of the townsfolk to a nearby city.” He glares. “Where  _ you _ should be as well.”

Stan stares at him with confusion. He still can’t seem to recall anything, other than a giant goat for some reason. “Evacuated from  _ what _ ? What’s going on?!”

Ford barks out a laugh, but it’s bitter. He throws his arms up into the air and motions all around them. “What do you  _ think _ , Stanley?! Look around, the world is fucking ending!”

It clicks. 

Oh…

“...Bill.”

Ford’s smile is sharp. “ _ Ding ding ding!” _ A couple more ticks sounded through the air, and Ford points to a strange looking box by his feet at the sight of Stan’s questioning gaze. “This is a bomb composed of a collection of materials found in my travels. If it’s built correctly, and I quintuple checked to make sure I did-”

Despite the grave matter, Stan finds himself quietly snorting. Nerd. 

“-it should destroy everything within a 300 mile radius,  _ including _ Bill and his crew. I wanted to get everyone out of here safe and sound before it was set off, but apparently I failed at that, since you’re still here. Now we’re both going to die, because there’s no way you’ll be able to get outside of the blast radius in time!”

Both…?

“What about you?” 

Ford looks taken aback. He furrows his brows. “What about me?”

“What about  _ you _ ?” Stan pushes. “You said we’re both going to die, but you only mentioned the possibility of me getting out alive.”

_...Tick… _

_...Tick... _

“Oh, well.” Ford shifts uncomfortably in his place. “Someone has to stay behind to make sure the explosive works. It makes the most sense for me to be one to do it; I let Bill into this world, so I should be the one to take him out.” 

Now Stan was the one yelling. “Are ya crazy, Sixer?!” He pretends not to notice Ford’s violent flinch at the nickname. “You don’t always have to be the hero. We could’ve found something different. We could’ve-”

“No, you don’t understand. This was our last resort, everything else we could’ve tried would have  _ failed _ .”

“Bullshit!”

If he wasn’t before, Ford is definitely pissed now. He closes the gap between the two with a few long strides and grips Stan by the front of his shirt. The action jostles him, but any protest he thought of making is quickly shot down when his eyes meet his brother’s piercing gaze. 

_...Tick… _

_...Tick… _

Ford looks like he's going to say something, but doesn't. He seems conflicted, Stan observes. They stand there for a couple of beats before he huffs out, “...There’s no point in fighting anymore,” and rests his head on Stan’s shoulder, sinking into him. Said person is startled by the sudden shift of weight and adjusts his footing, hesitantly wrapping his arms around the other. He jumps when he feels Ford’s arms move around him to clutch at his back.

Well, this was unexpected, but not unwelcome.

There’s no way that this would happen in any other, non-life threatening situation, but he has to make the most out of this, he guesses.

All is silent between the two of them, save for the constant ticking, the countdown to their doom. “How long do we have?”

“Ab’t five minutes,” Ford mumbles into his shoulder. Stan hums in acknowledgment. Oh. He subconsciously squeezes him tighter. Ford doesn’t protest.

He chuckles downheartedly. “Y’know, when the time eventually came for me to kick the bucket, I thought I’d be surrounded by a bunch of family.”

Ford doesn’t respond right away. “Why didn’t you start one?”

“Saving you was my top priority. Never found the time, I guess.”

An odd sound comes out of his brother. It sounds troubled. “It shouldn’t have been.”

“As if that would change anything.” Stan rolls his eyes, but glances at the top of Ford’s head with concern. “Why would you think that?”

“It wasn’t worth it.  _ I  _ wasn’t worth it. You were foolish to risk the universe just to save one person, and look where we ended up.” A sigh. “Although, I’ll have to admit that you are far from the primary one to blame. I was the one that built the portal in the first place, fooled by half-truths and flattery, if I had just listened to Fiddleford…”

Stan has no idea who that was, but he has a feeling it was best not to open that can of worms. Instead, he decides to go with, “Oi, it’s not your fault that that triangular asshole tricked you-- you couldn’t have known. You were the victim.”

Ford sighs again. “If only you were there, you would have seen right through him. You’ve always been the one with common sense.”

An awkward laugh. “Heh, yeah, well, too late to change that now-”

_...Tick… _

_...Tick… _

"...Stanley?"

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you come back? Pa would have let you."

Stan tenses. "You and I both know that's not true, Ford." His brother doesn't argue. "But, other than that, I was afraid. Afraid that you were still mad, never wanted to see my face again. That you hated me."

"Oh, Stan, I never could have hated you, as much as I thought I did. I was hurt, yes, and angry. But I never hated you."

Stan laughs ironically. "Well, you didn't do a great job at showing it. But I wasn't really the best person either, heh."

_...Tick… _

_...Tick… _

They fall back into silence for a couple more seconds. Stan feels Ford shift his arm to check only what he could assume to be his watch. He moves it back into its previous place quickly afterwards.

"We don't have much more time left." He makes a noise that suspiciously sounds like a sniff after that, but Stan doesn't mention it. He's not doing much better anyway.

Instead, he rests his cheek against the top of Ford's head, closing his eyes. He notices, that despite the dirt and oil in his hair, and the fact that it hasn't been washed in weeks, his hair is surprisingly soft. He voices this thought to Ford, earning a choked laugh from him.

"Thanks."

_...Tick… _

_ …Tick…. _

_...Tick… _

The bomb's ticking starts to quicken, causing the brothers to hold onto each other more tightly. Stan's eyes squeezed shut, his heart pounding in his ears, he barely catches Ford's hesitant whisper, but it's still there, and he might actually start to full on sob.

"Wherever we go…?"

"We go together."

_...Tick… _

_...Tick...Tick..TickTICKTI- _

Stan hears a flash and quick feet, feels someone grab them both, and all of a sudden the ticking is gone.


End file.
